The brother of a man who was allegedly beaten to death by guards while awaiting transfer from the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay more than two years ago spoke at Queen’s University on Monday night.

Yusuf Faqiri is on a cross-Canada tour — Justice for Soli Tour — to raise awareness of the treatment of people with mental illness in provincial jails and Correctional Service Canada institutions.

The event at Queen’s was co-hosted by the Islamic Society of Kingston and Muslim Societies, Global Perspectives (Queen’s University): Justice for Soleiman: Islamophobia, Race and Prisons.

Yusuf Faqiri spoke at the event as well as participated in a panel discussion with Imam Yasin Dwyer, a former chaplain for the correctional service, and Lisa Guenther of the department of philosophy.

“It was a tragedy that should have never happened,” Yusuf Faqiri said in an interview on Monday.

His brother, Soleiman, 30 at the time of his death, suffered from schizophrenia and died in December 2016 while awaiting transfer from the Lindsay jail to a mental health facility.

Faqiri was sent to the facility earlier that month after an altercation with a neighbour in Ajax, during a schizophrenic episode. He was never charged with a crime.

While at the Lindsay jail, he was held in solitary confinement, which added to his mental deterioration, Yusuf Faqiri said.

The family alleges that Soleiman Faqiri was beaten to death by guards.

They also filed a $14.3-million lawsuit this past January against the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, the superintendent of the Central East Correctional Centre, and Ontario correctional service employees allegedly involved in the beating.

In the suit, they say he suffered cruel and unusual punishment, battery, negligence and his beating was an abuse of public office.

The family also cites a Coroner’s report that Faqiri had 50 bruises on his body where he was allegedly punched, kicked and stomped on while he was handcuffed and defenceless. They also say he was pepper-sprayed twice and a spit hood was placed over his head that could have caused breathing issues,.

Staff at the institution should have known Soleiman was schizophrenic, Yusuf said.

On his visit to the jail before his brother died, Yusuf told staff that his brother had mental illness.

“They were aware.”

Yusuf said his family tried to see him four times before but were turned away.

A file photo of Yusuf Faqiri, who’s brother Soleiman died while in custody at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario in December 2016. Submitted PhotoKingston Whig-Standard/Postmedia NetworkHandout Not For ResaleSubmitted /
Submitted Photo

“Not once were we allowed to see him, and to this day we have not been told why,” he said.

After a yearlong investigation, Kawartha Lakes Police Service declined to press charges against the guards who allegedly administered the beating, even though there was an independent eyewitness to the assault.

“Why weren’t charges pressed?” he said. “It’s not like Soleiman just rolled over and died. None of those bruises were self-inflicted.

“Soleiman should have never been in a jail to begin with; he should have been in a hospital where he would have been treated appropriately. This is a case that frankly should disturb everybody across Canada,” he said. “[We’re] building awareness of Soleiman’s story so this doesn’t happen to someone else. The whole reason this movement was created was so another family doesn’t have to go through this.”

Faqiri is on the tour to bring awareness about others, such as Ashley Smith, the teenager with mental illness who died by self-inflicted strangulation in October 2007 while under suicide watch in custody at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, and others with mental illnesses who have died while in custody.

“This story is bigger than just Soleiman. It’s a story that could happen to any Canadian family, but my family is speaking up so it doesn’t happen to any fellow Canadians.”